HIST 2520 - Asia in the Modern World

Credit Hours: 4.00

Outcome 2: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to critically analyze why those major political, social, economic, environmental, cultural, and intellectual developments where significant in the evolution in the development of the societies of China, Japan, and Korea since the 1600s.

Outcome 3: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to identify the relevant connections between the major political, social, economic, environmental, cultural, and intellectual developments that have affected the evolution of the societies of China, Japan, and Korea since the 1600s and the contemporary political social, economic, environmental, and cultural issues confronting the peoples of China, Japan, and Korea and their governments today and possibly in the future.

Objectives:

1. Explain and analyze the evolution of the political, economic, social, religious, and cultural institutions of China, Japan and Korea since the 1600s.
2. Evaluate the impact that diverse cultural traditions and intellectual ideas have had on the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea in the modern era.
3. Describe the contributions of diverse individuals and groups to evolution of the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea.
4. Examine the experience of China, Japan, and Korea within a global context.
5. Examine and evaluate the effect of geography and the physical environments on the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea.
6. Analyze the roles played by power and wealth in the development of the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea.
7. Analyze the roles of racial/ethnic concepts, gender ideology and nationalism in the experiences of China, Japan, and Korea since the 1600s.
8. Compare/contrast major issues in histories of China, Japan, and Korea and the contemporary social, political and economic issues confronting the peoples and governments of China, Japan, and Korea.
9. Evaluate ideas and arguments critically.
10. Communicate ideas and arguments concisely, accurately, and informatively.
11. Describe how historians analyze history and historical processes.

• Communication: The graduate can communicate effectively for the intended purpose and audience.
• Critical Thinking: The graduate can make informed decisions after analyzing information or evidence related to the issue.
• Global Literacy: The graduate can analyze human behavior or experiences through cultural, social, political, or economic perspectives.
• Information Literacy: The graduate can responsibly use information gathered from a variety of formats in order to complete a task.
• Quantitative Reasoning: The graduate can apply quantitative methods or evidence to solve problems or make judgments.
• Scientific Literacy: The graduate can produce or interpret scientific information presented in a variety of formats.

1. Meeting New Challenges, 1200-1600
   1. The Mongols
      1. China and Korea under Mongol Rule, 1215-1351
      2. The Mongol Conquest of the Jin and Xia Dynasties
      3. The Mongol Conquest of Korea
      4. The Mongol Conquest of the Southern Song
      5. Life in China Under the Mongols
      6. Mongol Rule over Koryó, 1260-1355
   2. Japan’s Middle Ages, 1330-1600
      1. New Political Alignments
      2. Civil War
   3. The Ming Empire in China, 1368-1600
      1. The Founding of the Ming Dynasty
      2. Diplomacy and Defense
      3. Social and Cultural Trends
   4. Centralization in Early Chosón, 1351-1598
      1. Recentralization and Zhu Xi Confucianism, 1351-1392
      2. The Chosón Dynasty and Confucianization, 1392-1450
      3. The Sejo Usurpation and the Literati Purges, 1450-1519
      4. Confucian Disputation
      5. Institutional Deterioration
      6. Factionalism and the Japanese Invasion
2. Growth and Stability, 1600-1800
   1. Europe Enters the Scene
   2. The Creation of the Manchu Empire, 1600-1800
      1. The Ming Dynasty Lapses into Disorder
      2. The Manchus
      3. Ming Loyalism
      4. Qing Institution Building
      5. Contacts with Europe
      6. Cultural Cross-Currents
   3. Edo Japan
      1. Tok`ugawa Settlement
      2. Eighteenth Century Challenges
   4. Late Chosón Korea, 1598-1800
      1. Manchus and Factional Disputes
      2. The Decline of the Military Service Rural Credit Systems
      3. Late Chosón Society: Slaves and Yangban
      4. Economic Development in the Eighteenth Century
      5. Politics, Ideology, and Reform after 1762
      6. New Movements in Scholarship and Learning
      7. The Family and Women in the Confucian Age
      8. The Growth of Literature
3. Western Imperialism, 1800-1900
   1. European Imperialism
   2. China in Decline, 1800-1900
      1. Economic and Fiscal Problems
      2. Mid-Century Crises
      3. Self-Strengthening
      4. Foreigners in China
      5. The Failures of Reform
      6. The Decline of the Qing Empire in Comparative Perspective
   3. Japan in Turmoil
      1. Domestic Secessions
      2. Foreign Affairs
      3. Debates on the Foreign Threat
      4. Political Turmoil
      5. The Fall of the Shogunate
   4. The Meiji Transformation, 1868-1900
      1. The Meiji State
      2. Conservative Resurgence
      3. Imperialism and Modernity
   5. The Final Years of Choson Korea, 1800-1894
      1. The Nature of Consort Rule, 1800-1894
      2. Anti-Catholic Persecution of 1801
      3. The Hong Kyóngnae Rebellion of 1812
      4. Christianity and Western Imperialism
      5. Ch’oe Cheu and the Tonghak Religion
      6. The Taewongun’s Defacto Regency, 1863-1873
      7. King Kojong and the Kanghwa Treaty of 1876
      8. Unequal Treaties and Attempts at Reform, 1876-1894
      9. Foreign Interference and Qing Control, 1876-1894
      10. The Tonghak Rebellion and the Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895
4. East Asia in the Modern World
   1. Remaking China, 1900-1927
      1. The End of Monarchy
      2. The Presidency of Yuan Shikai and the Emergence of the Warlord
      3. Toward a More Modern China
      4. Reunification by the Nationalists
   2. Rise of Modern Japan, 1900-1931
      1. A Fluid International Order
      2. Economic Development
      3. Constitutional Government
      4. Modern Urban Culture
      5. Alternatives to Modernity
   3. Korea under Colonial Rule, 1896-1945
      1. The Transition to Colonial Rule, 1896-1910
      2. Japanese Colonial Rule, 1910-1945
   4. War and Revolution in China, 1927-1949
      1. The Chinese Communist Party
      2. The Nationalist Government in Nanjing
      3. The Japanese Invasion and the Retreat to Chongqing
      4. The Civil War and the Communist Victory
5. World War II
   1. War and Aftermath, Japan, 1931-1965
      1. Road to War
      2. Wartime Mobilization
      3. Occupation
      4. Political Settlement and Economic Recovery
   2. China under Mao, 1949-1976
      1. The Party in Power
      2. Departing from the Soviet Model
      3. The Cultural Revolution
      4. The Death of Mao
   3. China since Mao, 1976 to the present
      1. The Communist Party after Mao
      2. Restructuring the Economy
      3. Social and Cultural Changes
      4. Critical Voices
      5. Taiwan
      6. China in the World
   4. Korea since 1945
      1. Liberation and National Division, 1945-1949
      2. Korean War, 1949-53
      3. Rivalry between the ROK and the DPRK
      4. Park Chung Hee, The First Decade, 1961-1972
      5. Park Chung Hee, The Big Push, 1972-1979
      6. The Chun Doo Hwan Dictatorship, 1979-1987
      7. Democracy Arrives, 1987-1992
      8. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 1953-1992
      9. Economic Growth and Political Consolidation, 1953-1959
      10. Provocation of Revolt and Nixon’s Rapprochement with China, 1959-1971
      11. Kim Il Sung Shifts Power from the KWP to Himself, 1972
      12. Challenges Against the ROK and Economic Decline, 1975-1988
      13. Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
      14. The North Korean Nuclear Challenge, 1989-2003
      15. Domestic Issues, North and South: 1992-2003
   5. Contemporary Japan, 1965 to the present
      1. Political Protest and Environmental Pollution
      2. Strains of the 1970s
      3. The Roaring 80s
      4. Malaise in the 1990s
6. East Asia at the Beginning of the 21st century